备战2009年12月英语六级考前每日一练(15)英语六级考试

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2009:11:20 18:38:11
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

jiefu">　　What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what the society and life in it ought to be. Such consensus cannot be gained from societys present stage, or from fantasies about what it ought to be. For that the present is too close and too diversifieds and the future too uncertain, to make believable claims about it. A consensus in the present hence can be achieved only through a shared understanding of the past, as Homers epics informed those who lived centuries later what it meant to be Greek, and by what images and myth they were to live their lives and organize their societies.采集者退散
　　Most societies derive consensus from a long history, a language all their own, a common religion, or common ancestry. The myths by which they live are based on all of these. But the United States is a country of immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations. Lately, it has been emphasized that an asocial narcissistic ( 自我陶醉的) personality has become characteristic of Americans, and that it is this type of personality that makes for the lack of well-being, because it prevents, us from achieving consensus that would counteract a tendency to withdraw into private worlds. In this study of narcissism, Christopher Lasch says that modem man, "tortured by self　consciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal worries but to find meaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for. " There is widespread distress because national morale has declined, and we have lost an earlier sense of national vision and purpose.
　　Contrary to rigid religions or political beliefs, as are found in totalitarian societies, our culture is one of the great individual differences, at least in principle and in theory. But this leads to disunity, even chaos. Americans believe in the value of diversity, but just because ours is a society based on individual diversity, it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on uniform origin of their citizens. Hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be based on　a myth a vision about a common experience, a conquest that made us Americans, as the myth about the conquest of Troy formed the Greeks. Only a common myth can Offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or purpose. Myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a shared idea. Myths are shared fantasies that form the tie that binds the individual to other members of his group. Such myths help to ward off feelings of isolation, guilt, anxiety,and purposelessness in short, they combat isolation and the breakdown of social standards and　values.
　　57. In the authors view, the greatest trouble with the US society lies in the
　　[ A ] lack of serious disagreement over the organizations of social life
　　[ B ] non-existence of unanimity on the forms the society should take
　　[ C ] public negation of the consensus on how to conduct social reforms
　　[ D ] general denying of its conformity with what it was unexpected to be
　　58. The author mentioned Homer in Para. 1 to exemplify the fact that
　　[ A ] the present is varying too fast to be caught up easily
　　[ B ] the future may be so indefinite as to be unpredictable
　　[ C ] the past can help to shape a consensus in the present
　　[ D ] the past determines social moralities for later generations
　　59. The asocial personality of Americans results from
　　[ A ] the want of shared myths they possess in life
　　[ B ] the multiracial constituents of the US society
　　[ C ] the absence of a common religion and ancestry
　　[ D ] the obstruction of achieving a general agreement
　　60. It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that Christopher Lasch is most probably a(n)
　　[ A ] social historian来源：考试大的美女编辑们
　　[ B ] radical reformer
　　[ C]earnest nationalist
　　[ D ] advanced psychologist
　　61. The author concludes that only shared myths can help Americans to
　　[ A ] bring about the uniformity of their culture
　　[ B ] diminish their great individual differences
　　[ C] regain the feelings of social values and morale
　　[ D] avoid the sense of being isolated and anxious
　　【结构剖析】议论文。本文首先提出美国人缺乏对社会及生活的一致认同的观点：只有共同分享过去才能达到认同，随后说明美国人的自我陶醉阻碍了这种认同的形成。最后总结：只有在共同理想的基础上实现认同，人们才能找到生命的意义和目的。
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